Forrest sevice

Has any one gone through thier academy on thier way to testing for city stations and finding out that the forrest service was the way to go? Or has anyone started out working for a city station then transfering over to the forest service after a couple years? What was your motivation? Thanks

Has any one gone through thier academy on thier way to testing for city stations and finding out that the forrest service was the way to go? Or has anyone started out working for a city station then transfering over to the forest service after a couple years? What was your motivation? Thanks

I have heard the FS is losing people to calfire/county fire departments in southern california. I also know of at least one ex-FS person on the Sparks, NV fire department. You will still need structure fire training, though. I haven' heard of anyone leaving a city fire department to come to the FS. Too much of a pay cut.

That aside, I think only the financially secure and possibly criminally insane would bear the pay cut, hours shift going from a City Department to the FS. But if your city doesn't pay much and you like wildland, then its your golden ticket out i would think.

That aside, I think only the financially secure and possibly criminally insane would bear the pay cut, hours shift going from a City Department to the FS. But if your city doesn't pay much and you like wildland, then its your golden ticket out i would think.

Good point . Two r's is the name (like my best friend gowning up, Forrest). One "r" is the thing with the trees and whatnot (forest).

I much prefer the way the FS fights wildland fires, and I can't stand being in the city. If I could live with being in the city, I would probably jump at the better pay, benefits and hours. That said, in two counties where I live and work (which are bigger than a few states back east), there are about 5 paid fire slots, which were only created 2 years ago (and only open to people who already were volunteers there). I know people who were formally paid-call fire on the east coast who came out to the US Forest Service.

I have been a hotshot for the forest service for 2 years and am now getting picked up by LAFD. The forest service does not pay enough to compete in California. However I have seen a lot of different agencies fight wildland fires and in my opinion the Forest Service is the best at it, hands down. No one can compare with how well the forest service can take care of wildfires. So if you want to learn the best way to fight brush fires then join the forest service for a short while.

It all depends on what you want to do when you grow up . If you want to be able to fight wildland fire in just about any of the 50 states, work 16 hour shifts for 14 days straight, eat food that can make McDonalds look like a 5 star restaurant, try to sleep in a tent during the day when it's 100 degrees, work in hot, dusty, smokey conditions while sweating like there's no tomorrow and not be able to get a shower for several days and all this for around $38,000/year not counting overtime and special pay differentials oh and often live in very rural areas where you are 2 hours from a wallyworld ........ Then the Federal wildland agencies are your ticket.

If you like to respond to medical calls, car fires, house fires, mva's, etc... make better money, but have to deal with stupid people (but they are job security ), then maybe you should be looking for a municipal dept.

DogEater - you can live off the FS wage in CA, just not in SoCal. I did it with a wife and 2 kids as temp in NorCal before I was able to escape from CA

I spent over 10 years with the FS before going to a city dept. I started on engines and quit as a jumper. It was a good way to have fun and a good job, but not much of a career as injury rates are high and pay is low. However that being said I would do it the same all over again. The FS builds a work ethic that can not be topped....

Go wildland build your resume, quals, work ethic and have fun. Long term you might want to city, but don't leave any room for regrets down the road. I work with way to many people that say "wish I would have done that when I was younger."

RXFIRE I was trying to say that the FS cant compete in California with other fire agencies, not that you cant live off it. I just made over 60k as a starting firefighter, but thats with a stupid amount of overtime. Where my base salary with LAFD will start near 60K.

Thank you for your replies. I do understand the pay scales, and the amount of work. I had a taste of cutting line this week in my academy. I put 45 lbs in my backpack and had it on all day, cut lines with it, reminded me of the good old days back home on the ranch cutting brush in the summer. I would deal with the ****ty food, I grew up on spagetti os , the hot and terrible work conditions, I have heard stories, it just work you can either do it or you cant. All this sounds alot more glamorous than going in to a house fire, or running med calls. I think I may have found my niche.

Thank you for your replies. I do understand the pay scales, and the amount of work. I had a taste of cutting line this week in my academy. I put 45 lbs in my backpack and had it on all day, cut lines with it, reminded me of the good old days back home on the ranch cutting brush in the summer. I would deal with the ****ty food, I grew up on spagetti os , the hot and terrible work conditions, I have heard stories, it just work you can either do it or you cant. All this sounds alot more glamorous than going in to a house fire, or running med calls. I think I may have found my niche.

I think any career FS or even CAL Fire guy would call you crazy for calling it "glamorous" work. 98% of the time, no one else knows your there but maybe another couple of rigs and the Incident Commander.

In my opinion, if you work on a Type 1 Hotshot Crew you can be a self proclaimed Bad ***. The work that you will do would destroy most municipal fire fighters. I wish everyone would go to a crew, you learn so much about fire and so much about yourself. If anyone gets the chance I would highly recommend it.

hate to say this, but the glory days of shot crew are long gone. There are now almost 40% more crews than 10 years ago, no more R&R on the road, no more 21 day fire runs, and no more 20 hour coyote out shifts.

There is no glamor only pride....

If your looking for the most elite job in the FS, put your time in and be a smokejumper.

Ugh!

So we are going to start this debate. Lol Jumper vs. Shot. I was a shot for a handful of years and then a member of a MEL crew that got thier shot status. Smoke jumpers on the line is like seeing and getting a picture of big foot. Smoke jumpers jump them small and Shots clean up thier mess. I can go on for hours here. Anyways there is only two bases I would jump out of if I decided to jump. Missoula or Winthrop.

To address the actual question here. Yes, I have heard of lots of people using the Academy to make the jump to a municpal department, but in your off time from the wildland season you need to work on your structure quals as well. At one time Kern County was recruiting FS academy folks straight out of thier home units with the FS, because they came well trained for cheap.

An for info..even though there has been an influx of new Type 1 MEL crews. There are still the old school crews out there and a few new school who have taken it way back to the old school rules. With any firefighting module there are good and bad, including the jumper world, but you know what they say a jumper is a shot gone retarded... I'd love to poke fun and talk trash some more, but I have other things to do.

This is the type of stuff that I am really into, call me crazy but busting *** on a hot day watching amazing fire behavior sounds amazing. I found out that I ran through poison oak, I have it on my wrists, face and nuts, and I cant wait till May to actually get some, if I get picked up

Im finding it much harder than I thought to get picked up....I have talked to quite a few captains and they said it probably doesnt look good, but that is also because I was looking in Lake Tahoe/and Yosemite National Park

Yeah the Tahoe Basin and the parks are usually hard to get into. Try Truckee, Soda Springs, Sierraville, and White cloud. North end of Tahoe with short drives to the Lake. Or the Woodland station on W. 4th in Reno, NV. Umm..Otherwise maybe the East Eldorado NF. Hmm..